Secrecy issues dominate as Gulf Coast STB hearing continues: Analysis

Cross-examination of Jim Blair, Amtrak’s senior director of host railroads, consumed the full 8-hour, 28-minute session Monday as the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on the effort to launch passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., resumed after an almost three-week hiatus.

Blair was questioned by lawyers from Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and the Port of Mobile; redirect questioning from an Amtrak attorney was held over until the hearing resumes today (Wednesday, May 11), at 9:30 a.m. EDT. That session will be lived streamed at the STB YouTube channel, which also has recordings of Monday’s session and those of the previous eight days.

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People vs. cargo: How a battle over Amtrak’s Gulf Coast line could shape the future of passenger rail

Ever since Hurricane Katrina swept across the Deep South in 2005, shredding the region’s railways, it’s been impossible to take a train heading east from New Orleans to the rest of the Gulf Coast. For years, Amtrak has been trying to restore service in the form of a twice-a-day line between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. But it’s met fierce resistance from two rail giants — CSX and Norfolk Southern — which own most of the tracks that the agency wants to use.

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Amtrak runs Baton Rouge-New Orleans inspection train

Trip including governor, railroad CEOs touts partnership hinging on approval of CP-KCS merger

A decades-long effort to create a Louisiana passenger rail corridor between the state capital of Baton Rouge and New Orleans moved a step closer Wednesday when Gov. John Bel Edwards joined Amtrak, federal, and railroad officials on an inspection run along the route.

Among those joining the governor, a Democrat, were Amit Bose, Federal Railroad Administration administrator; Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel and his Kansas City Southern counterpart, Pat Ottensmeyer; and Amtrak President Stephen Gardner.

The 12-car KCS consist reprises colors of the route’s last scheduled passenger train, the Southern Belle, which made its final run in 1969. The event was especially significant, because attempts to conduct passenger inspection trips on the 80-mile Baton Rouge-New Orleans route had been rebuffed for more than 20 years.

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Amtrak dumps its nice guy persona in fight for Gulf Coast trains

Amtrak is embroiled in a fight that may have vast implications for the future of US rail service, including the billions of dollars devoted to it from the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Amtrak, which typically speaks in a mild-mannered tone on social media, has reinvented itself as a flamethrower that's launching snarky missives at the freight railroad companies that it says are blocking passenger train travel on the Gulf Coast.

Amtrak trains outside the Northeast corridor generally run on tracks owned by freight railroads, sharing the tracks on an agreed upon schedule, though unexpected delays occur when the freight railroads deviate from the schedule and run their own trains hours ahead or behind schedule.

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Riding the rails to determine needed Baton Rouge-to-NOLA upgrades

A train used to identify rail upgrades needed for passenger service will carry state and federal officials and railroad executives from Baton Rouge to New Orleans today. 

The inspection is a necessary step for establishing passenger rail between the cities. The event also is expected to bring together key decision-makers for the planned route, including Gov. John Bel Edwards, transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson, Federal Railroad Administration head Amit Bose, and executives with Amtrak, Kansas City Southern Rail and Canadian Pacific Railway. 

“Those are all of the partners that have to come together to make it happen,” says John Spain, vice chair of the Southern Rail Commission and executive vice president of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

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Snarky tweets, time lapse videos: How the Gulf Coast train beef between Amtrak and CSX is intensifying

Marc Magilari leaned against a railing at a community civic center, perched above the railway as a CSX freight train roared by. 

It was the fourth train to come through Bay St. Louis that Wednesday, just after 4 p.m. Magilari, a spokesman for Amtrak, and a small camera had been keeping watch since 8 a.m. to survey the train traffic. It rolled footage of hours of empty tracks live on Twitch. 

In a railroad beef that’s been building for years, Amtrak has turned to live streams, snarky tweets and time lapse videos to help prove its point: Passenger and freight trains can coexist on the railways that run through Mississippi from Mobile to New Orleans. 

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Federal hearing on Amtrak’s planned Gulf Coast service powers on

The evidentiary hearing that the Surface Transportation Board is conducting this week on Amtrak’s request to restore Gulf Coast service between Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans appears poised to stretch beyond its original two-day schedule as the board and witnesses wrangle over what is and isn’t within the board’s jurisdiction.

The first day of the hearing is available here, and the second day is available here.

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Gulf Coast: STB Denies Mediation Request

With billions of dollars on the line, we must support Amtrak's return to the Gulf Coast

With the passage of the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill last year, Congress committed billions of dollars to make much-needed improvements across the United States. Included in these investments is the goal of expanding access to passenger rail across the nation. That goal, however, may be in jeopardy as the Surface Transportation Board (STB) considers restoring passenger service to the Gulf Coast in the face of mounting opposition from special interests.

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